Dominion BB starts Last 32 with win in Ulm

Dominion Bilbao Basket opened its Last 32 Group G campaign with a strong 75-93 road victory over ratiopharm Ulm. Clevin Hannah led the way with 20 points while Alex Ruoff tallied 19 points and Dairis Bertans chipped in 14 points and Giorgos Bogris had 10 points in the win. Ulm dropped its first home game of the Last 32 despite 11 points and 5 assists from Taylor Braun with Augustine Rubit, Per Guenther and Da’Sean Butler all adding 10 points in the loss.

Raymar Morgan started the scoring for the hosts and Alex Mumbru answered for Bilbao. Bertans’ three-pointer gave the guests their first lead with Mirza Begic’s put-back making it 4-7. Hannah’s basket and three-pointer helped Bilbao increase its lead to 8-16 with Bertrans nailing another triple as the cushion grew to 10-19. Braun and Chris Babb answered for Ulm with back-to-back three-pointers and Braun got the gap to 18-19. Mumbru followed with a three-point play and Bilbao was ahead 18-25 after 10 minutes. Bogris extended the margin to 18-27 before Butler tallied 8 straight points including 2 three-balls to bring Ulm within 28-29. Bogris and Begic scored again and Ruoff’s trey had Bilbao up 32-36. Ulm didn’t let the Spanish side pull away with David Brembly evening the game at 38-38 on a three-pointer. Two more ties followed before Ruoff’s three-pointer had Bilbao up 41-44 at the break.

Hannah started the second half with a three-pointer for the guests but Braun knotted the game 47-47. Ulm could not stop the Bilbao offense with Bertans’ three-pointer completing a 0-9 spurt to go up 47-56. And 4straight points from Ruoff increased the margin to 51-62. Pierria Henry was able to score for the hosts but Bilbao continued to click on offense with the final 9 points of the quarter to lead 53-71 going into the final frame. Ulm scored the first 4 points of the fourth quarter but again could not get defensive stop as Bilbao scored on 4 of the next 5 possessions – including a Hannah three-point play and three-pointer to race ahead 60-81 with 6 minutes left. Gunther knocked down 2 three-pointers in a 10-4 Ulm run to climb to within 70-85. But Ulm failed to score on its next 2 possessions and Bertans was on target again from long range to make it 70-90 and decide the game for good.

Head Coaches

LEIBENATH, THORSTEN

ratiopharm Ulm

"This win was very convincing by Bilbao. They played way smarter than we did. I agree, our small lineup worked out to a certain degree, but we could only use this advantage in the first half. One of the main problems was that we couldn’t stop Bilbao’s three-point shooting. We knew that Hannah, Bertans and Ruoff are very good shooters, but we couldn’t stop them. Plus, they made big shots at the right moments. In the second half Bilbao was able to use their advantage in size and we had big trouble with our defensive rebounding."

ALONSO, SITO

Dominion Bilbao Basket

"Tonight’s game was a very important one for us. We suffered a very tough loss in the league. In the first half it was pretty difficult for us to stop the small lineup of Ulm. But in the second half we tried to take advantage of our low post situations. And after leading by double figures, we played more calmly while Ulm had to get into a hurry when trying to reduce the deficit."

Players

BABB, CHRIS

ratiopharm Ulm

"In the second half they hit shots and we didn’t. We didn’t move the ball and didn’t execute our offense properly. Now we have to regroup, use the couple off days in the German league and bounce back against Munich. In this game we have to be sharp from the very first second. We are not good enough to start 10 points down."

RUOFF, ALEX

Dominion Bilbao Basket

"In the second half our offense was working, but more importantly, we fought on the defensive end. It’s a great win in the Eurocup and it was monumental for us as a group, especially after the tough loss in the Spanish league last weekend."